A fundamental problem in the construction of vehicle tires is to satisfy, simultaneously and optimally, the various requirements relating to tread properties. This optimization has, in particular, to do with combining a high wet skid resistance with a low rolling resistance and a long service life under high stress. One of the central problems of tire construction and also of the preparation of other heavy duty rubber composites is to counter the delamination tendency.
Vehicle tires and also other rubber composites are composed of rubber and reinforcements which are usually in the form of two-dimensional fabrics of steel wire and/or textile cord embedded in a plurality of layers in the rubber. A disadvantage of this laminar arrangement of the fabric layers is the lack of isotropy, there being relatively little tenacity between the individual fabric layers. While optimal strength is achieved in the longitudinal and transverse directions of the fabric layers, there is no fiber reinforcement perpendicular to these directions so that the tenacity between the reinforcements is due only to the adhesion of the rubber vulcanizates to the steel wire or to the textile cord. This carries the risk that on applying high stress, in particular flexural loads, to the rubber composite, in particular to the vehicle tire, or on mechanical damage, the fabric layers may separate from one another and the rubber composite, in particular the vehicle tire, is destroyed.